. >>> in washington some difficult negotiations between the staffs of president obama and house speaker boehner, all that of course an effort to avoid the nation dropping over the fiscal cliff. in just a few days at the end of the year. in their first discussions yesterday after a week's hiatus we are told there were no signs of progress and even a hardening of positions. in fact, earlier president obama discussed the stalemate with middle-class families. >> for them to be burdened unnecessarily because the democrats and republicans aren't coming together to solve this problem gives you a since of the costs involved in very personal terms. >> he showed what he is really after is assuming unprecedented power to spend taxpayer dollars without any limit at all. >> the major sticking points continue to be how to handle tax rates for wealthy americans, and also, what to do about reducing spending on entitlement programs like social security and medica medicare. >> aide between the president and the speaker of the house met and the talks basically went nowhere. according to one of the preside